Drifting

Piazza Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Travel is really about passing through, passing time. Waiting for buses, trains, planes. Planning. Doing the washing. Sleeping. The other stuff is hyped, the seeing of great sights, eating of great meals. People don't so much mention the drifting time.

I'm sitting here on this lush grass - if we were in London you wouldn't be allowed to sit on it - and it's that time of day when all the shadows disappear. Nothin' but sun. Nearby are some workmen in florescent orange pants, sweeping and shovelling and scraping. A group of hipsters on the grass, wearing aviator sunnies and eating a picnic lunch. Tourists passing through, pausing and posing for goofy photographs.

And me. Lying in the sun. Wearing a giant hat and a lot of sunscreen and just lazily watching the time pass. Because after two and a half weeks on holiday things have finally slowed down and all I can say is, it's good.